AS MANY bearings as Alexandra “Alex” Eala has sharpened in a tremendous Wimbledon run, she has one untapped armory left that’s yet to be maximized in a bid to achieve greater heights, including finally winning a Slam someday.
And for tennis greats and former world champions, it’s Ms. Eala’s service game, noting that each one of the Slam kings and queens that dominated the sport have mastered the art and science of serving.
“Her serve. It’s an excessive amount of of a puffball. (Iga) Swiatek didn’t handle it well, but (Jasmine) Paolini did. She was attacking the second serve. But even the primary serve was like 80, 85. She will be able to hit it 105, but she doesn’t,” said Czech-American icon and former world No. 1 Martina Navratilova on Tennis Channel when asked of Ms. Eala’s specific room for improvement.
The 69-year-old legend, with 18 Grand Slam singles, 31 doubles and 10 mixed doubles crowns, served as considered one of the analysts for Wimbledon, where the No. 29 seed Ms. Eala etched a variety of milestones for Philippine tennis, only to fall short against No. 13 seed Ms. Paolini of Italy, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, within the Round of 16.
She noted Ms. Eala’s great footwork and speed in addition to her ability in counterattacking and ending but her serves, especially as a lefty, has not been armed to the fullest just yet as she transitions to the hard-court swing of the North America resulting in the US Open, the season’s fourth and last major, on Aug. 30 to Sept. 13 in Flushing Meadows, Latest York.
“She makes her technique to the online, and she will finish there. In case you don’t have the facility to complete from the baseline, you higher have the opportunity to get into the online and finish. And he or she does that. She needs to alter the grip and use the leftyness more. She was not slicing,” added Ms. Navratilova, who reigned because the No. 1 women’s singles and doubles player throughout the 70s to 80s.
Inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2000, Ms. Navratilova also holds the record for essentially the most combined major titles (59) and WTA pro titles (167) in her decorated profession, making her the proper woman to advise Ms. Eala, now seen as considered one of the subsequent in line of worldwide tennis stars.
Greg Rusedski, former No. 1 British player, echoed Ms. Navratilova’s advise on the 21-year-old Filipina pride.
“The serve does have to grow to be a weapon where she will get the primary strike in after the serve,” said Mr. Rusedski, a 15-time ATP champion with a career-high world rating of No. 4, on Off Court Cuts podcast. “She has the knowledge of find out how to mix it, but she needs a bit more accuracy and a bit more power, and that may are available in time.”
It was Mr. Rusedski who also projected a deep Wimbledon run for Ms. Eala way before the tournament, especially after her strong grass buildup with a title in Birmingham and a semis finish in Berlin, where she stunned world No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan and No. 8 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.
On the crest of that feat, Ms. Eala braved on and have become the primary Filipina to achieve the feats in a single Wimbledon campaign alone: the primary Filipina seeded player in Grand Slam history, the primary Filipina match winner in Wimbledon and in addition the primary to achieve the third and fourth rounds of a significant respectively.
Her Wimby march included an Earth-shaking 7-6(11-9), 6-2 upset of reigning champion and world No. 3 Ms. Swiatek of Poland that made headlines across the globe and drew reactions and praises from the likes of Catherine, Princess of Wales, Billie Jean King, Venus Williams and Ms. Eala’s super idol Maria Sharapova.
And Mr. Rusedski believes there’s no other way for Ms. Eala — especially under the wings of Spanish legend Rafael Nadal — to go but up from here, even claiming that Wimbledon could possibly be the precise Slam Ms. Eala would finally win down the road.
“For me, the primary Filipino to be within the fourth round of a significant, man or woman, this can not be her last fourth round. She is within the Rafael Nadal mould, and I like her. She’s a terrific competitor, great returns, great groundstrokes,” Mr. Rusedski beamed. “Wimbledon for me is her best shot to go deep at a significant and really have a probability to win it someday.” — John Bryan Ulanday